Information Society

Who owns your genetic information? Might it be the doctors who, in the course of removing your spleen, decode a few cells and turn them into a patented product? In 1990 the Supreme Court of California said yes, marking another milestone on the information superhighway. This extraordinary case is one of the many that James Boyle takes up in Shamans, Software, and Spleens, a timely look at the infinitely tricky problems posed by the information society. Discussing topics ranging from blackmail and insider trading to artificial intelligence (with good-humored stops in microeconomics, intellectual property, and cultural studies along the way), he has produced a penetrating social theory of the information age. Now more than ever, information is power, and questions about who owns it, who controls it, and who gets to use it carry powerful implications. Boyle finds that our ideas about intellectual property rights rest on the notion of the Romantic author - a notion that Boyle maintains is not only outmoded, but actually counterproductive, restricting debate, slowing innovation, and widening the gap between rich and poor nations. What emerges from this lively discussion is a compelling argument for relaxing the initial protection of authors' works and expanding the concept of the fair use of information.

Revolutionary information and communication technologies are contributing to dramatic changes in the competitiveness of global and local markets and in the way people conduct their business and everyday lives. The potential benefits and risks these changes present for developing countries and transitional economies are enormous. This comprehensive, authoritative reference book examines the ways in which these powerful technologies are being harnessed to development goals, thus helping to reduce the risk of exclusion and create new opportunities for developing countries. The report emphasizes the urgency of developing new social and technological infrastructures so as to ensure that new technologies are used effectively. It also offers outlines and practical steps intended to guide stake-holders interested in shaping their future innovative knowledge societies.

Who is going to reap the rewards of new information and communication technologies? Focusing on a theme of exclusion, Access Denied in the Information Age dispels the myths of the information society. The authors here take a few steps back from the hype and consider the real place of these new technologies in society.

The second great transformation of our society in the modern era has demoted manufacturing to a position that is secondary to the service industries, thus originating today's information society. This volume examines how massive social change over the past few decades has created a new set of winners and losers and what this has done to society. The author rejects the orthodox explanations for the losers' plight--such as job stagnation, income inequality, and an increase in crime and violence--and argues that the main causes of success or failure in today's society are psychosocial. While today's losers lack the character structure and values that would help them adjust to change, the winners--the Chameleons--have acquired a character structure symmetrical with the needs of the new society.

This work provides an introduction to some important social theorists whose work has considerable relevance to today's brave new world of information and communication technologies.

Society on the Line presents a new way of thinking about the social and economic implications of the revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs). It offers a clear overview of information in the digital age, and explains how social and technical choices about ICTs influence access to information, people, services, and technologies themselves. The author calls this process `the shaping of tele-access' and shows how the concept challenges prevailing theoretical perspectives of the information and communication revolution. His clear, informed and challenging analysis ranges from the household; through the workplace and business organization; to the media as new information providers; and to government policies on information and economic strategy. In doing so he touches on important issues of information inequality, privacy, censorship, the Internet; information and organizational design; and information in the community and public policy. The main text is fully supported by case studies, boxed information, and essays written by leading ICT experts on both sides of the Atlantic. This accessible and useful book offers an invaluable guide to the information politics of the digital age. Pre-publication Endorsements `Society on the Line is a very useful book that organizes and analyses clearly and cogently a substantial body of relevant documentation. It will become required reading in universities around the world.' Manuel Castells, Professor of Sociology, University of California; author of the The Rise of the Network Society `...a fascinating perspective...which provokes fresh consideration of the issues. By showing us how to identify the games being played in the on-line environment, Dutton helps us focus on the pressure points for achieving respect for our information. Privacy need not be at risk as ICTs are exploited.The more we understand the drivers for change, the more we can influence the information handling culture which is emerging.' Elizabeth France, UK Data Protection Registrar

Computer-mediated communication and cyberculture are dramatically changing the nature of social relationships. Whether cyberspace will simply retain vestiges of traditional communities with hierarchical social links and class-structured relationships or create new egalitarian social networks remains an open question. The chapters in this volume examine the issue of social justice on the Internet by using a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives.

The penetration of computer technology in society has given rise to new moral dilemmas. The 26 ground-breaking essays in this insightful anthology define the nature of this new moral landscape and offer thoughtful answers to the ethical questions raised by the interaction of people and computers.

Popular opinion suggests that information has become a distinguishing feature of the modern world. Where once economies were built on industry and conquest, we are now instead said to be part of a global information economy. In this new and thoroughly revised edition of his popular book, author Webster brings his work up-to-date both with new theoretical work and with social and technological changes - such as the rapid growth of the internet and accelerated globalization - and reassesses the work of key theorists in light of these changes. This book is essential reading for students of contemporary social theory and anybody interested in social and technological change in the post-war era.

Politicians, policy makers and business gurus are all encouraging us to join the information superhighway or risk being excluded from the social and economic benefits of the information revolution. Cyberspace Divide critically considers the complex relationship between technological change, its effect upon social divisions, its consequences for social action and the emerging strategies for social inclusion in the Information Age. The contributors cover such themes as human interaction, ethical behavior, and the growing disparity between the information rich and the information poor.

Analyzes of the development of electronic networks in Europe and North America and their technical, economic and political drivers.

An outstanding line-up of contributors explore the regulation of the internet from an interdisciplinary perspective. In-depth coverage of this controversial area such as international political economy, law, politics, economics, sociology and internet regulation. Regulating the Global Information Society covers the differences between both US and UK approaches to regulation and establishes where policy is being made that will influence the future direction of the global information society, from commercial, democratic and middle-ground perspectives.

This study discusses the opportunities that may be raised by the emergence of noopolitik--ranging from construction of noosphere to recommendations.